


Fallen

by MissZuipperpips



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Crystal Gems, F/F, Fusion, Pearl POV, Rhodonite - Freeform, jaspearl - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-09-13
Packaged: 2018-08-14 19:34:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8026318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissZuipperpips/pseuds/MissZuipperpips
Summary: Set after Malachite and Alexandrite's fight, Jasper and Pearl both fall through the fissure and need to work together in order to escape.





	Fallen

Exhausted from the battle as Alexandrite and now deformed you cheer inwardly, we defeated Malachite and things were starting to look good again, you wouldn't have to search the ocean another hundredth time at the danger lurking.  
Jasper lay motionless beside you and you almost feel pity for the Homeworld gem, but after everything Jasper had done to hurt the gems and Steven you felt you could never forgive her. Suddenly the ground shook from where you stood, _the cluster, it was happening, now_. You prepare for a long journey back to the barn, filled with worry and concern for Steven and Peridot on their mission, as the warp pad was out of action, but then the earth gave way beneath everyone and as if in slow motion, Jasper slipped past you and a pang of guilt ran through your body, Rose wouldn't have left Jasper, she would have done something. In a last struggle to save what had been your biggest threat yet, you reached out for Jasper, but it was too late, for the both of you. Garnet gasped and tried to advance, but you were down the fissure in seconds and all you could hear was a struggled cry from one of the crystal gems.

Landing with a heavy thud on top of the Homeworld soldier at the bottom of the crevice, you scramble away to a corner, a wall, anything. But there's nothing, it was so deep and narrow there was no where to go but the small space you had between you and the brute. Jasper lay across from you in a heap of white hair, still unconscious from the fusion, and you were dangerously weak from Alexandrite, if anything were to happen now, you'd be helpless. But there wasn't much you could do, so you wait. What you waited for you don't know, whether the crystal gems would come for you, or if you'd hope to find the strength to climb out of the deep hole. But the last thing you wanted, was for Jasper to wake up.

It had only been an hour when the orange gem started to stir, you wouldn't dare approach her. You saved her right? that was enough, she wasn't damaged or lost, you did your best and what Rose would have done. Yet your stomach still churns with a feeling you aren't too unfamiliar with, and it eats you up inside watching Jasper struggle to pull herself off the ground. Her head is barely lifted when she freezes and shoots a glare in your direction, "YOU!" she screams, using all her strength to rise up. You cower further into yourself, what if she still had the strength to fight, you couldn't go through this again. One of her big orange arms strikes at the ground with a fist, almost comically similar to a thwarted cartoon character on one of Steven's shows. "I need more _strength_ ," she growls inwardly. You shiver, what do you do? _Talk_ to her, or worse, help her. She sits up and props herself against a wall of the cavern, snickering to herself in a slightly unhinged way. "I guess that's it, huh. I'm stuck here, on this miserable planet. I'll never escape this…"

"You might appreciate it more if you looked at it," you reply in a small voice, far shyer than you thought it would be.

" _I have_ , and it’s no better I'm stuck here with _you._ " She refused to look in your direction now and seemed to be keeping her thoughts private.

You make an effort to stand, tempted to extend a hand but making no advance yet, "do you... need any help?"

"Help?!" she scoffed, "I don't need help, certainly not from some Pearl."

"I am not just _some Pearl_ ," you stamp a foot down at her, you weren’t about to take this from a gem who hardly knows you further than a cut and model. Her yellow eyes flick to you, but you couldn’t read her face, she was just looking at you, assessing you?

It feels like hours before one of you speaks again, as if it were a test of will power, you wanted to be out of there as soon as possible, but with the likely outcomes happening you may have to actually ask Jasper for help, but she seemed far less willing than you in the first place. You watched her toss and turn, directing her thoughts inward, struggling with something, like a decision. “Why are you here?!” she yelled out suddenly, and you flinch in fright.

“Oh, uh, well…” you stutter.

“You’re waiting for something, and if it’s for a chance to take me down while I’m weak, then why are you staring at me all this time?”

“I want to get out of here as much as you do, but I can’t, I haven’t regained my energy from the fusion…” you trail off, not really wanting to continue a conversation with such a disdainful gem.

“Do you use fusion a lot?” Jasper asked curiously.

The question caught you off guard, but you answered anyway. “I wouldn’t say a lot exactly, but often maybe.”

She was quiet for a moment, thinking it over most likely. What must it have been like, trapped in a fusion? You never thought of it as a possibility, fusion was so pure and expressive among the crystal gems, Homeworld twisted it to be a use of brutal force. When was the last time Jasper ever felt something close to love, had she ever? Every time you fused it was for a dire circumstance, but it was about unity between the gems before power and you always came out of it feeling like you were on top of the world and above everything. Looking at Jasper now, it was as opposite as you could get, what must she be thinking of fusion now?

Jasper moved to stand up and you stiffened, this was it, she was going to eliminate you and get back to the surface. You wince away when she takes a step toward you, but you snap into your defences, no, you can do this, you may be a pearl, but Rose believed in you and that was enough to inspire you. Grabbing your spear from your gem and holding it out toward Jasper she stops, messy hair spilling over her shoulders and shadowing her face, looking first at the tip of your spear then focusing directly on you. “I’m not starting a fight. I want to know…” she paused a moment in hesitation, “why you fuse…”

You scoff at her and take a swing, mostly to keep her at bay than attack, but she blocks it with one arm and slaps the spear down, nearly forcing it out of your grip. “You’ll never understand the balance necessary between gems to fuse, it’s so much more than a new strength, its harmony and love. But I don’t expect you to understand,” almost yelling the last line at her you take another more purposeful jab at the large gem and advance, she takes hold of the spear and one of your arms, holding you beneath her hulking figure.

“Then show me. We can escape if we fuse.” Her voice sounded broken, defeated, you look into her piercing eyes and find remorse. You couldn’t reply, _fuse with jasper? But that would be insane,_ and yet you wanted to say yes, just to spare the rejection.

“I… I can’t,” you finally say.

There was a minute change in her expression, almost a determination, you should have thought this through, you were a step away from being cornered on the wall and she had both your weapon and dominant arm in hand. “Why not?” she asked sternly.

You swallow, _why not Pearl? Because you find her repulsive, or because you don’t want to share such a genuine connection with someone who would just abuse it._ “Will you promise me something?”

“Anything,” her voice made your heart sink, it was so painfully desperate.

“I have to lead, don’t try and force anything.”

She nods in recognition, so you poof your spear and take the hand she held you with before and take a few steps around her, twirling into her arms and out again, releasing her hand but leaning back into her, hands raised and reaching to her shoulders behind you as you lay into her. With a little uncertainty, Jasper holds your waist and you spin out, legs raised in an elegant pose. On the landing you spin to face her, and as your arms fall they stroke through her hair next to her face, you see her gem glow and feel your form dissipate.

Rhodonite rose from within the cavern, barely fitting with her new growth, glancing down at her opalescent body of pink and orange shades, she breathed heavily. “You, we… I can’t believe…” she spoke softly to herself, small murmurs of amazement and incredibility. “My voice, I mean, our… no. It’s so, _clear._ ” Keeping herself from getting distracted she gazed upward, the peak of the cavern didn’t seem so far now, so she began to climb, feeling droplets of water fall every so often as she approached the surface, they were close to getting flooded sooner or later if they hadn’t moved. Rhodonite felt a sharp shiver run up her spine, it was hard to keep the form while in such a weak state, but they could do it, they only needed to reach the island again, and the Crystal Gems would help them.

“NO.” Rhodonite clutched at the walls, “not them, I can’t do this…” she struggled. “ _But if we keep this together for a bit longer—_ I WON’T.” She was within arms reach of the surface, the sky was getting clearer as the clouds took form. Water was gushing from a corner of the fissure, deafening Rhodonite, destroying their focus, the water felt like a prison all over again. “Don’t give up, it doesn’t have to be like that,” she clenched a fist and punched the wall, it crumbled, slowly, then all at once, and you lost yourself.

Catching yourself on the rock wall, hand in hand with Jasper you release a breath nervously, but she was slipping through your fingers already, too heavy to lift. Catching a last glance from those yellow eyes, Jasper fell, your stomach dropped as her form was washed away beneath the depth of the ocean and you lost sight of the orange gem.


End file.
